What the latest declassified documents said about Jagdeo

Mar 12, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – Foreign intelligence agencies have always had spies within governments. In many instances those spies are usually planted within the political Executive.

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book “Talking to Strangers” has recounted how the Cuban intelligence services – the best in the world – penetrated the American spy network and planted numerous double agents within the CIA. During the PPP government of 1961, the British government had a spy high up within the PPP. That person fed information to the British government. Similarly, the US and Britain would have had spies over the years within the leadership of the PNC and its governments. Cuba is also believed to have had its intelligence agents in Guyana. But while the western powers may still be gathering intelligence about Guyana, the Cubans have long exited this type of work in Guyana. After the ‘Special Period’ Cuba would not have been able to sustain their wide network of spies. But the Americans and British would have.

The foreign intelligence agencies are known to spy on visiting foreign officials. When Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan visited Britain in 1953, the British intelligence agencies, bugged their phones and monitored their mails.  It is through the work of these spies that western governments gather intelligence about what is taking place in the country. Some agents are usually employed within the embassies and high commissions. They actively court government and Opposition interlocutors for information, under the pretext of discussing bilateral matters.  The intelligence gathered forms the basis of assessments about the country.

But western governments also recruit spies from within the government. One of the ways in which they do this is to provide scholarships to foreign nationals and what they do is to identify certain persons (not all) who they would approach to provide them with information when those persons return to their homeland. Or they may simply plant an agent within the government. But the western missions in Guyana do not really need to go to great ends to obtain inside information about what is happening locally There are many Guyanese who are all too willing to go into the embassies and high commissions and snitch.

A senior intelligence officer, during the Burnham administration, was known to be relaying information to the Americans about the WPA penetration of the Guyana Defence Force. Gathering credible information is however different from merely gathering information since much of what may be told to the embassies and high commissions may be opinions and fiction rather than facts. At times, information dries up and there is a need to send off quickly an intelligence estimate without having the time to gather credible intelligence. In this instance, the intelligence officers simply concoct facts and representing these as coming from first-hand sources. This seems to be the case in relation to an intelligence Brief which was recently declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency.  The declassified Brief makes the most fanciful statements about Bharrat Jagdeo, as the country approached the 2001 elections.

In the CIA Brief, it was claimed that two senior leaders of the PPPC were worried that there was a real possibility of the PPPC losing the 2001 elections because of the poor performance of the economy and because of corruption. But the Brief also indicated that there were concerns within PPPC about the possible outbreak of violence. Given what happened after the 1997 elections, this was always going to be a real possibility, except that the PPPC and many others did not predict that it would take the form of a criminal insurgency. The Brief argued that Jagdeo had a weak base within the party and was reliant on the support of Janet Jagan for legitimacy within the PPPC. This may have been closer to the truth. It was further claimed that there was the anxiety that should Janet Jagan pass away or be medically incapacitated, that the leadership could fall to either Ralph Ramkarran or Moses Nagamootoo. But what was stranger about the latest declassified Brief was that it provided the names of the persons providing the assessment of the party’s chances  at the elections, their views on the leadership of the security services, the possibility of political succession in the party and the nervousness within the party about losing office in 2001.It is difficult to comprehend those persons saying what was attributed to them.

Who knows, the PPPC may be harbouring similar fears today of losing office.  Given the tantrums that are being thrown at present, the PPPC may be concerned that its slender one-seat majority may be at risk in 2025.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

• British, declassified, Executive, Government, instances